Hiring for your business

As the world’s business leaders attest, securing the best talent is vital to achieving success.

“The key for us, number one, has always been hiring very smart people.”
— Bill Gates, Microsoft founder

Hiring well isn’t easy. It’s made up of a series of challenging tasks: from defining the role in question to attracting good quality candidates, to selecting the best person for the job. Only once you’ve been through this time-consuming, often costly process can you make your appointment and welcome your new hire to the organisation.

Hiring needs keep changing

As an employer, you also need to be aware of your legal responsibilities and how they change over time. Diversity is a key issue, and everyone involved in your hiring process should know the latest requirements to avoid discrimination.

The business environment also raises its own set of challenges at any given time. If you’re tackling any of these at the moment, you’re certainly not alone:

• Escalating skill shortages — three-quarters of organisations say it’s difficult to find the specialist skills they need
• Outsourcing candidate attraction — an increasing number of organisations are partnering with specialist recruiters
• Costly senior appointments — recruiting directors and management is most expensive, at an average £7,250 per hire
• The need for age diversity — many organisations are actively recruiting workers aged 50+ and over half are now offering apprenticeships (Source: CIPD 2015 Survey Report on Resourcing and Talent Planning)

Stages of the hiring process

Defining the role

Before you can advertise your role, it’s important to analyse the nature of the job and the skills required. Roles change with technology and your business needs, so this is as important for existing roles as for new ones. You’ll usually create a job analysis, job description and person specification.

Attracting candidates

The many methods of generating interest in your role can be grouped into three categories.
Recruiting internally can provide existing workers with career progression opportunities. You can advertise externally across a wide range of channels from print to social media. You can also partner with external recruitment services should you find your resources stretched.

Managing and assessing applications

The most common selection methods used by employers are still interviews, CVs and application forms. Technology is increasingly being used to manage these methods, through online application systems and video interviews.

Making the appointment

You should make a written offer only when you’re sure you’ve got the right person. References can meet your own needs, but you’re also responsible for making sure your candidate can legally work in the UK. An effective onboarding process can help new workers acclimatise to your organisation.

So, what happens when you nail your hiring process?

“The dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1… A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.”
— Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. co-founder

Go get ‘em.